Animorphs: 1 The Reanimation
by Anon Aristh
Summary: What if Elfangor didnt die at the construction site? What if the Animorphs had another friend with them there that night? OC's, OOC's plenty of action, suspense, and drama. !SPOILER ALERT! book begins with Ellimist chronicles/#54 if ur new to ANimorphs, skip the prologue, otherwise u better read it! i hope u enjoy it. Please review more chapters coming soon
1. Chapter 1

**Animorphs: The Reanimation**

Author's Notes

I wrote this story for the primary purpose of entertaining myself, all copyrights to their respective owners I do not own them. Hopefully some of u will review and that might fall under fair use. A quick but sincere thanks to anyone who gives this a shot please enjoy

RATED T+

Prologue

The human head with elven ears and large bat-like wings hovered cross legged; with his head in his hands and a hollow look in his eyes. He floated above the third closest planet of a dying star, a battle raged within its atmosphere. The creature had seen this battle billions of times before, had carefully searched with more than mere senses, searched for anything he could. Anything, that would alter the course of events he knew would quickly follow, the ones he'd been trying to prevent. For nearly a thousand human years the creature did his best to produce evidence of foul play; the vile, contemptuous, one-eyed beast, had played his hand well there were no loopholes this time, Crayak had won.

Suddenly, time itself froze, the fabric of this reality melted, distorted, till the creature found himself in a vast, seamless, all white, corridor without doors. (HAHAHHAHAHA YOU STILL DO NOT SEE IT DO YOU ELLIMIST, THE BEAST IS TOO SUBTLE FOR YOU.) The voice thundered from nowhere and everywhere at the same time, it seemed to come from the walls but also from outside them. (Who are you?) The creature known as the Ellimist asked. He mustered as much pride and deference into the question as he could, clearly who ever this entity was he had far superior power than the Ellimist. (CURIOUS LITTLE BEING, WHO I AM, IS OF NO CONCERN OF YOURS. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS ANSWER A SIMPLE QUESTION, ONE EVEN YOUR FEEBLE MIND SHOULD BE ABLE TO GRASP. ELLIMIST, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?) For the first time in millennia, the Ellimist knew fear; the way the voice asked if he wanted to play a game was dripping with poison. Ellimist sensed a nefarious agenda, he knew that no matter what this entity said, he would likely torture and kill the Ellimist and Crayak. Still he must play the game if there was a chance he could win and rewrite the wrongs, and then he must take it. A visible shiver down the Ellimist's spine he sounded far away when, after a long silence he did finally answer. (What do you propose Anonymous Entity? If I'm SO inferior why play with me at all? Why are you here? What do you really want, I may not be as omnipotent as u are but I am still omnipotent.) (YOU SEE ELLIMIST I GREW OUT OF TOYING WITH MERE SENTIENTS BEFORE U HAD A HOME CRYSTAL. I CHOOSE MY PLAYERS FROM DEMI-GODS, MY GAMES HAVE COSMIC CONSEQUENCES IN COUNTLESS DIMENSIONS, WHY I ONCE TORE A GASH IN SUBSPACE I FOUND A MESOMORPH WHOSE APPARENT DIET WAS STELLAR NURSERIES, HA CAN U BELIEVE?

ANY WAY LIKE YOU, I ONCE HAD A CORPOREAL EXISTENCE, LIKE YOU I OUTGREW IT. WHO EVER DESIGNED ME DID SO WITH THE INTENTION THAT I EXCEED MY LIMITATIONS, JUST AS I HAVE DONE WITH SPECIES SIMILAR TO YOURS. YOUR VALIANT LITTLE HUMANS AND DUTY BOUND ANDALITES HAVE AROUSED MY ATTENTION. DESPITE THEIR OBVIOUS INFERIORITY, INGORANT BRUTALITY, AND PARTIALLY PHYSICAL BODIES; THEIR ASPIRATIONS ARE IN LINE WITH A FEW OF MY OWN. WHOEVER CREATED THEM DID ONE HELL OF A JOB, FOR CORPOREAL SENTIENTS THAT IS.

AS I'M SURE IS THE CASE WITH YOU ELLIMIST BUT THAT ISNT THE REAL REASON IM HERE. I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOSE A HOMEWORLD, I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO WACH, HELPLESSLY AS BILLIONS OF YOUR PEOPLE ARE WHOLESALE SLAUGHTERED. I WAS ON A SHIP HEADED FOR KELBRID SPACE, ON A RECON MISSION, WE HADNT EVEN LEFT THE SYSTEM, WHEN THAT TREACHEROUS LITTLE DRODE OF CRAYAK'S FIRED A MASSIVE ENERGY WEAPON INTO OUR CLOSEST SUN, A SOLAR FLARE BEYOND ANYTHING WE COULD MEASURE STRUCK MY HOME WORLD 33 SECONDS LATER. IT SEARED THROUGH THE MAGETOSHPERE AND IGNITED OUR ATMO SOON AS IT HIT, THE WHOLE PLANET BECAME AN INSTANT STELLAR PHENOMENON, THE SMALLEST STAR EVER RECORDED. MY PEOPLE DIED SO THAT THE DRODE COULD TEST A NEW ENERGY WEAPON FOR THE BATTLE WITH YOU, MAKE NO MISTAKE ELLIMIST, WE ARE NOT FRIENDS, AND YOU OWE ME.)

The Ellimist knew better than to retort, this being whoever he was had the power to interfere with him as he would with the humans. This Anonymous Entity was the first being he'd encountered besides Crayak, one thing was certain the Entity was angry. The Ellimist wanted to do as little as possible to get on its bad side, for fear of its wrath. He sensed more than knew that the he wasn't in as much trouble as Crayak, and hoped that whatever nasty punishment Crayak was in for, it would be long, grueling, and brutal. Simultaneously he wished his own would be far less severe than he was already imaging happening.

POP Crayak's pet , The Drode appeared in the corridor in front of the Ellimist, as soon as it was there deep gashes began forming in its flesh, its tongue pulled out and severed, ears fell to the floor, eyeballs, teeth, finger nails, then fingers. His intestines began stretching the length of the endless corridor, his legs spread and snapped like a wishbone. A solitary spike rose from the floor impaled the Drode's Severed head and continued rising till it was eye level. (THERE I THINK THE DECORATIONS ARE FINISHED WE CAN INVITE OUR GUEST.)

FOOWOPPH (What is the meaning of… ARRGGGGH MY DRODE what have you done to my Drode.) (HAHAAHAAHA DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION NOW CRAYAK?) (Yes you have it now what do you want?) (I WANT TO PLAY A GAME OF COURSE.) A smile appeared in the corners of Crayak's only eye (What GAME would that be?) (THE SAME ONE YOU AND ELLIMIST HAVE BEEN PLAYING FOR EONS, I'M RATHER FOND OF THE NOTION THAT A HANDFULL OF HUMAN CHILDREN COULD HOLD OFF AND ULTIMATELY DEFEAT THE ENTIRE INVADING FORCE OF ALIEN PARASITES (YEERKS). WE WOULD RESET THE BOARD AFTER THE TWO OF YOU PAY YOUR PENALTIES, THEN WE WILL BEGIN WITHOUT ANY DIRECT INTERFERNECE FROM ANY OF US, I SHALL SELECT ONLY TWO OR THREE PLAYERS, MYSELF AND THE ELLIMIST WILL BE SELECTING THE HUMANS FOR OUR FACTION YOU WILL BE ALLOWED THE YEERKS PLUS ALLORAN. THE ELLIMIST WOULD GET HIS ANIMORPHS PLUS ELFANGOR….)

(Noooooo NOOo no way no way Ellimist get her and Elfangor, no way, I will not play unless I get The One.) (VERY WELL CRAYAK, I COULD EASILY FORCE YOU TO DO AS I WILL, HOWEVER DESTROYING YOU AND YOUR OBLIQUE FRIEND IS AN OPPORTUNITY I CANNOT RESIST. STILL, NO DIRECT INTERFERANCE, I WILL CHOOSE THREE HUMANS AND TWO ANDALITES, THE WINNING TEAM WILL FACE OFF AGAINST THE LOSERS IN A FINAL FIGHT TO THE DEATH. I HAVE CREATED A DIMENSION THAT IS TO SREVE AS OUR ARENA, IN THIS WAY WE CAN MINIMIZE THE COSMIC EFFECTS OUR BATTLE WILL CAUSE. OH BY THE WAY, IF YOU'RE THINKING OF CHEATING CRAYAK, KNOWS THAT I WILL IMPRISON YOU FOR MILLENIA WHILE I DECIDE ON HOW TO BEGIN YOUR TORTURE. I KNOW YOU HAVE NOT BEATEN THE ELLIMIST WITHOUT YOUR LITTLE LOOPHOLES, AND IM AWARE THE ELLIMIST USED A FEW OF HIS OWN, SOME OF THOSE I WILL ALLOW, AND THE REST I WILL NOT. ARE YOU READY CAN YOU SPEAK FOR THE ONE, OR SHOULD I RENDITION HIM?)

(I speak for all my creations, The One will do as I command.) (GOOD ON TO YOUR PENALTIES THEN, ELLIMIST YOU WILL EMBODY A HOWLER AND PARTICIPATE IN THE GENOCIDE OF NOT ONLY EVERY LAST PEMALITE, BUT EVERY LAST CHEE AS WELL. CRAYAK, YOU WILL CONSUME EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR HOWLERS, EVERYTIME YOU DO, YOU WILL REGURGITATE. A NEW PEMALITE, IN THE FIRST STAGES OF ITS EVOLUTIONARY DEVELPOMENT, WILL RISE FROM THE BILE. YOU WILL CREATE FOR THEM A NEW WORLD AND I SHALL HIDE IT FROM THE UNIVERSE. AT LEAST TILL THEY VENTURE INTO IT. AFTER ALL I AM A FAIR GOD. HAHAHAHA) Crayak looked like he was about to say something snide when… SILENCE_) thread began stitching itself through the lips of the form Crayak appeared in, halting any interruption before one could begin. (ONCE YOU ARE FINSHED WITH THAT BEAST, YOU SPEND A MILLENIA OR TWO MOPPING UP Z-SPACE ANOMALIES. AFTER ALL, WE NEED THE SHIPPING LANES CLEAR FOR OUR LITTE WAR DON'T WE? OH AN NOT TO WORRY, I HAVE A FEW SURPRISES FOR LATER IN THE GAME JUST IN CASE IT GETS BORING. SEE TO YOUR PENALTIES, ELLIMIST MAKE YOURS QUICK, I WISH TO SUMMON THE "TEAM".)

POP.

POP.

The lesser entities were sent to make their sacrifices, when the Ellimist returned the all-white corridor was gone, in its place was a design similar to a small human movie theater except with screen that displayed images all round and above you. On that screen now, were the images of the Pemalite Home-world, at a time just before their annihilation, a time they were most happy. Oddly enough the Ellimist took the gesture as a sign of comfort, after all; The Entity made Crayak Pay a much higher penalty than he had. Still to not have the Chee, it was true they were excellent stewards of the fragile temporal tapestry; so their impact would be nil on the current over all timeline, but the Animorphs had counted on the Chee several times to achieve what small victory they could. The Ellimist wondered if his partner knew what he was doing, hoping that he did.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**JAKE**

"Ram the Blade ship."

I gave the order. No hesitation from the crew, I liked that about them; warriors, true warriors every last one. Tobias who still blamed me, (rightfully so.) for sending Rachel to murder Tom ultimately to die moments after as we all watched, was still a brave warrior facing down a terrible, great, and unknown enemy. We realized its power to late, now we would do what little if any damage we could to this, this being, and we would die in the attempt. More of my friends, no more of my family sent to die, sent by me, Jake the Yeerk Killer. At least this time I'm going with them, and we are going down swinging. What was it the Spartans would say? "Come back with your shield, or on it." Yeah that will have to do, we only have seconds now.

The Rachel surged forward, its inertial inhibitors unable to compensate for the sudden acceleration, slammed its occupants to the back wall of the bridge. (10 Seconds to Impact) Tobias managed to whisper, (almost happily). Just when he thought he should feel the impact, when he should feel his brain freeze as it was introduced to the vacuum of space, all of reality itself seemed to melt and swirl until suddenly, he was standing on what can only be described as the Pemalite home-world. I blinked several times, adjusting my eyes to daylight under four suns, standing with me Tobias, in human form (though with a weird shimmering outline of a teenage Andalite around him), Marco, Cassie… could it be Oh My God it is there was Rachel, Alive. Without thinking I ran over to her wrapped her up in my now full grown arms and hugged her like I had never hugged anyone before. Tears ran freely down my cheeks but I couldn't care less, Rachel was alive, and whatever little trick the Ellimist had didn't matter whatever he wanted done I would do it, for Rachel, I would do whatever the Ellimist asked. (ELLIMIST) I noticed Ax was there he realized this was the work of the intergalactic trickster as well, finally I loosened my embrace on Rachel, and Cassie took her turn next. I scanned the rest of the scene, off in the corner were five dark shadows I could just make out 3 humans and two Andalites. They were obscured from sight, my eyes fell back to Tobias, he was on his knees sobbing, but for some reason Rachel didn't go to him. That made me angry she knew he loved her before she died if she had any idea what he'd been through after… I started to say something, then stopped the words wouldn't come. Instead I grabbed Cassie in a tight embrace of our own, gently kissing her soft lips. We had drifted apart over the years but I knew she still loved me, and she knew that right now I really need her. With a flurry, Tobias leapt to his feet and began screaming at the ceiling, in a voice id never heard from him before, one born of years of pain, suffering, and bittersweet rage. To be honest it frightened me a little, and not for the first time I wondered if Tobias was going to go all Sandy Hook on us one of these days.

"You sorry mother fucker what kind of fucked up shit is this you bring back some ghost of Rachel some little taste of the real thing… make yourself appear so I can jab this pen in your worthless fucking neck. Come on you little bitch Ellimist oh Ellimist come out from hiding you punk bitch come o…" Tobias roared at nothing really, suddenly I realized the Ellimist must have been communicating privately with him while he was sobbing unable to move only to listen and watch.

(Calm yourself Tobias, you have every reason to hate me, but know this Tobias I have missed her as well. If you accept our offer, you can have her back Tobias, FOR REAL, FOR GOOD.). Tobias quit screaming but he was still shaking with anger rocking back and forth on his heels. (Rachel, how are you are you fully here, do remember anything about where you came from?) "No the last thing I remember is dying on the blade ship." (That is good details of the afterlife are not meant to be brought forth into the land of the living. Very well I will give you a few moments to get reacquainted if you like or we can just begin whichever you prefer.) Marco, Cassie, Ax all looked at me; Rachel looked at Tobias, a small singular tear forming in the corner of her right eye. In three steps Tobias crossed the Room and swept Rachel up into his arms, she whispered something into his ear; he stood there holding her for a while longer then spoke. "all right Ellimist, I know I'm going to get screwed on this deal somehow, but you listen I don't give a flying fuck what happens to me, you give me your word that Rachel will Live a long Healthy life that she won't have to die again. I'll do anything you want, _anything_, I'll ignite the suns of sentient races ill suck slugs in the Yeerk pool please Ellimist please Don't Take the Girl." "Tobias NOO I CARE WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU I WANT TO MAKE A DEAL FOR TOBIAS ELLIMIST YOU… YOU OWE ME THAT MUCH."

(HE OWES YOU NOTHING, AND NEITHER DO I. ELLIMIST COME, THIS GATHERING WAS A WASTE OF TIME CRAYAK'S SLUGS INCH THEIR WAY TO EARTH AS WE SPEAK. LET US DISPENSE OF THIS SHARADE AND RESET THE BOARD, ITS NOT LIKE THEY WILL REMEMBER THIS TIMELINE.) (No but they will remember certain feelings, an intuition to help guide them.) (FINE, FINE, LET'S GET ON WITH IT THEN. IM GROWING BORED OF THIS ALREADY.)

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Chapter I

Heaven and Hell

**TOBIAS**

As quietly as I could, I stepped out of my uncle's filthy trailer home. Like a soldier in a field of landmines I took every step with caution avoiding the beer can littered yard. If I hit one chances were good he'd wake up if I ran he'd just beat me worse later. I hate him. I wish I was strong enough to fight him, no that's not true I really wish I could just fly away... for good. Once I cleared the minefield I looked up, such a beautiful day crisp white clouds light blue sky, I often marvel at the beauty of it all sometimes, I even write about it. I walked on like that for who knows how long, finally I did look down and cursed my-self for losing focus. About fifty feet in front of me and heading in my direction, were Lucien and Matt. Just a couple of low self-esteem daddy issue steroid freaks who like to beat the shit out of me whenever they get any opportunity to do so. My ribs still hurt from my uncle's beating last night if these pieces of shit start in on me I'm sure to break one. Fear and panic gripped me, my heart began racing, I considered running into traffic. Next, a wave of despair and self-pity washed over me like Fukishima, quickly replaced by an unfamiliar feeling. This feeling almost spoke to me like a whisper in my ear, made me realize that even if all was lost; I could still choose to hold my head high and go down swinging. It was quite a powerful revelation, one that filled me with a calm, quiet strength I hadn't known before. I thought of the men at Thermopylae, The Alamo, history was full of men who faced impossible odds; maybe they were scared too, they were just to brave to let fear stop them from doing what had to be done. I know it's childish to compare a couple of bullies and I to epic battles like those, still the thought comforted, and empowered me.

"That's it I've had enough", I told myself, if they wanted to beat me today I was prepared to fight them.(Not that it was much use but I was tired of running and trying to be passive and polite I wanted to be like my friend Julius, or Jake's cousin Rachel; fearless and brave, strong and unbreakable.) I stopped walking, stood my ground and put my fists up; even at that distance I could hear their laughs and jeers of mockery. That made me angry, I'm weaker than them so why is it such a pleasure to beat me bloody? You would think they'd want a challenge, right? Suddenly, Jake and Marco appeared around the corner, twenty feet from me ten from the bullies. "Ah Lucien, three against two still like your odds?" Marco spoke confidently Lucien looked like he might charge anyway, and then thought better of it. The bullies turned and sauntered away, disappointed to be sure but leaving just the same.

"Thanks guys." I mumbled, as I had a tendency to do. "No problem brother, hey we were actually looking for you, to see if you wanted to come with us to Cyberia after school. You know, gets some Frappuccino's, play some games, see if Marco can hack Mallory Williams's Facebook and post some pictures of her puking her guts out at last week's party. Cassie and my cousin Rachel are gonna meet us there were gonna walk home through that abandoned construction site, being close to Halloween and all. Not to mention Rachel's bringing some vodka she stole from a hotel she stayed at with her dad a couple weeks ago, and Marco scored us a fat blunt from his cousin."

"Uh gee that's sounds really great Jake, but I don't have any money and I hate being a burden so…"

"You are not a burden Tobias you're my friend, listen my Dad's a neural surgeon, my mom an advertising executive. I mean this in the best way possible, I can't imagine what your life must be like it makes me think about what I have a lot more and be more grateful for it. What's the point of having money if you can't do what you want with it; well what I want is to spend it on my friends. Just look at Marco, he lets me buy him shit all the time…"

"That's different Marco used to have money like you, he feels like whenever his dad comes to terms with their loss and gets his old job back, then Marco can pay u back. Well I don't have that option…"

"Would you come if I told you that Rachel maybe sorta liked you…?"

"NOOO WAYYY BIRD BRAIN FUCK NO I WON'T BELIEVE IT."

"SHUTUP MARCO!" Jakes command was obeyed instantly and silence fell. "She told you that?" I asked suspiciously. There was truth in his voice, not a hint of laughter or deception, "No Cassie told me, and if you say or do anything weird around her to let on you know, she's gonna kill us all. You know Rachel she'll do it, oh and that goes double for you Marco."

"Hey you ain't gotta tell me I already _know_ she's phycho."

"Wow I would have thought she liked Julius."

"Well it's you. Now, don't let it go to your bird brain and be cool. Come on, we gotta run or we are gonna be late for first period. I'll get detention if I get another tardy." We hustled the next few blocks; sliding through the doors as the first of three bells were ring the last one would mark us tardy.

"Well guys, as they say in the tampon business… see you next period." Marco hitched a grin from ear to ear, then turned and sprinted for his class. Jake and I exchanged embarrassed looks; we shook our heads then followed Marco's lead, sprinting down the hall in opposite directions.

At lunch the 7 of us always sat together, Julius and Marco were at one end of the table arguing loudly over which rifle was the best, the M-4 of the AK-47. Marco thought the M-4, but Julius who had actual experience with the military and those weapons proclaimed the AK-47 the best. Julius's father was in the Marine Corp. on active duty. Melissa (Lisa) as she preferred to be called was engrossed in an economics book, it couldn't be easy being the daughter of the vice principal of your school. She was reading with one hand and shoveling a salad into her mouth with the other. I slid over a few inches so that she was not directly in front of me any longer and I could catch a glimpse of the bright blue sky dotted with amazingly shaped crisp white clouds. Cassie and Jake were sitting across from each other at the other end; they were holding hands, and leaning in real close to whisper to one another. I turned my attention to the large bay windows that separated the cafeteria from the outside world. I must have been daydreaming because a few moments later I was roused from my thoughts by the voice of an angel.

"Hi Tobias!" a lunch tray sat down next to me, and then I saw who was holding it, who had spoken, Rachel.

"Oh, hey Rachel, what's up?" I said with my eyes firmly fixated on the pathetic fish filet that was today's free lunch. Doesn't this Obama lady know what kids like to eat, seriously this stuff is crap.

"Not much, so uh you going with us to the construction site?" she dropped her voice to a whisper, which meant she had to lean in close to for me to hear. I felt my heart rate increase, the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and my palms grow sweaty; I hoped I played it off.

"Sure I mean it's not like I have a curfew, besides if your there I won't have to listen to too many of Marco's feeble, immature, or otherwise inappropriate jokes." She laughed, knowing Marco was afraid of her. Oh my God, let me explain Rachel and Lisa are the two hottest girls in school. Rachel is a tall perfectly built blonde hair blue eyed angel. Don't let that fool you; she also has one of the highest GPA'S in the state. Rachel does gymnastics, as well as Krav Maga. She's assertive, but humble she doesn't belittle or condescend the way you would expect of her, I mean she looks like she stepped off the set of Jersey Shore. Lisa is tiny five feet tall, maybe she weighs 90 pounds. She has long black hair, with the biggest brightest green eyes I've ever seen; she's pretty smart too, but not like Rachel. I think Julius has a thing for her, but he hasn't said anything yet. I stared around at the various items on the others trays. Most of them had given up on trying buying me lunch, with a glance at Rachel's tray and the duplicates of everything; I'm guessing she hadn't got the message. Without a word she placed a slice of pepperoni pizza, a bottle of Sprite, and a basket of fries, down on the table in front of me. She met my eyes with an incredibly fierce gaze, and a loud voice in my head that didn't seem to come _from_ my head told me (EAT). I picked up the slice, Rachel smiled that heart stopping smile of hers, "Good, now that that is over with. Let's eat!"

** 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000**

**JULIUS**

Hi my name is Julius, yeah just Julius, if you had to give me a last name why not make it Caesar, (Pretty original right?) Anyway I'm 17yrs old, and I'm in the ninth grade. That's where I met my friends Jake, Tobias, Marco, Rachel, Lisa, and Cassie. They are my real friends, I don't think they would get me into the kind of trouble my last group of friends did. Stealing stuff, or running with a clique, these guys wouldn't ask me to hold their stash moments before the cops show up so I get pinched instead of them. No I left those _friends_ behind, when dad and I moved out here.

Peep this, my mom died giving birth to me, my dad is a career Special Forces Operator for the U.S.M.C. that's what I wanted to be too, except now thanks what happened back in Texas I can never be accepted into the military. I was 14 my dad was always gone, I was rebellious and headstrong, not mention too smart for my own good. One day my best friend at the time comes to me and says we are going to shoot cans after school, he and another friend pick me up, we smoke a little weed drive around for a while. We didn't shoot any cans; we did shoot up someone's house. It was the home of this bully from school, a couple grades higher than us. This bully was nefarious; he would lie in wait till he could catch us one at a time, and then pound the shit out of us with his friends and shove our faces in dog shit. Before that fateful car ride I would fantasize about going columbine, Virginia tech on him and his friends. Not so much anymore, I didn't pull the trigger, we slowed down in front of the house Alejandro in the passenger seat stuck the Tec=h nine out the window and opened fire, before I knew what was going on. Once I figured it out I kicked the back of the seat and slammed his wrist on the car door window frame, forcing him to drop the gun. The driver sped away; one week later two uniformed police officers and one homicide detective handcuffed me and drug me from the cafeteria. They got Alejandro at his girlfriend's house; the driver led police on a high speed chase till he slammed his car into the back of an 18-wheeler trailer. To ice the cake Alejandro signed a testimony that I was the shooter to get a lower sentence. I told the truth and the jury believed me, but the judge didn't care. He convicted me as an adult and sentenced me too two years in state prison, we tried to tell him I wanted to be a soldier like my father and that I would happily go to boot camp, maybe that's why he didn't do it either way when I got out dad and I moved here. I would have rather spent 10 years in solitary than to have to look at my father's disappointed face, God I wish I would have never gotten in that car that night. Now I live in Sunnyvale, somewhere, U.S.A. and I drive a suburban older than me and I have to wear a GPS tracker so my dad can find me at all times. Dad wasn't supposed to home till Sunday, so I should be able party. As if he read mind…

"Hey Julius!" I turned around Tobias with _Rachel_ sitting next to him. I met his eyes and leaned a few inches closer to hear. "You wanna go to the abandoned construction site with us after the mall?" I'm not sure, tell you what I'll text you before last period." "Ok cool." "Hey Tobias, it's just I'm really stressed right now so don't take it personal ok bro." "Sure thing man."

Just then some nosy football playing asshole "what's the matter _solja boy_ u ain't a scared lil bitch are you?" he sneered slamming his shoulder into mine as he walked past…

That did it! I leapt to my feet, my left hand reaching his over-sized throat in three short strides. I'm not an intimidating figure but believe me when I'm angry I can be. At six foot even and 180 pounds I could gain a little weight but I had a lot of muscle from long lonely nights doing pushup in the shoo. My hair was father approved high and tight buzz cut, I wanted to grow it long it was pretty good hair for a guy and I it kind of made me look like Oliver bloom in Lord of the Rings, except my hair was charcoal black. I have bright blue eyes, and I generally wear camo pants and a graphic t-shirt. I get decent grades I could do better but since losing the military I don't see wasting money on college. Back to the fight… my right hand crashed into his nose flattening it and sending blood squirting in several directions, I didn't intend to keep hitting him but by the time five big guys dragged me off of him I could barely move my arms. I realized quickly that three of the big guys were campus police; I know you're thinking rent-a-cop, your wrong this school had a lot of rich kids going to it so these guys were the real deal. They handcuffed me and escorted me to the principal's office. They didn't even sit me down.

"Due to your age and this schools recent adoption of the zero tolerance policy on violence, I have no choice but to expel you permanently. Consider yourself lucky I talked these guys out of taking you to jail and charging you with assault. I happen to be involved with an outreach program called The Sharing it's like a face to face social network, we can help troubled youth such as yourself, you should give it a try." "Yeah ok Mr. Chapman. Your right maybe some hard work and positive reinforcement is just what I need." I lied. "There you go son, you take a couple days off to rest and cool down, then come see me at the sharing. We can help you find a job too. Now then, these officers will escort you to your locker and off the premises."

I nodded and the officers followed me till I started my engine, when I hit the property line I reached in the glove box and pulled out a pack of smokes, lighting one and placing the pack in my pocket. I didn't smoke often but now felt like a pretty good time for one. As I drove, my first thoughts were of going home, finally I decided on going to the mall to wait on my friends. My lunch was interrupted when that jerk started his shit, and the pizza was way better at the mall any way.

Getting to the food court, waiting in line, ordering, and eating the pizza took about an hour. I was admiring two slightly older women nearby when Jake and Marco showed up. "We ditched last period, I mean come on when am _I_ gonna use study hall after school that won't involve a TV instead of a book." Jake and I chuckled at Marco "so you guys read to get destroyed at Marvel vs. Capcom?" Jake challenged. "Marco is, I'm all over that sniper game, the one with the rifle." I threw my trash away and went straight to Cyberia, a couple hours later the girls showed up, I stopped playing to sit with them. I wish Tom, Jake's older brother would bring his girl and hang out with us, he and I used to be pretty tight even though I never tried out for the team. Ever since his girl talked him into joining that Sharing group Chapman offered me he's been acting really strange. I asked Jake about it once, he said he had noticed, and then made perfectly clear he didn't want to discuss it. To my surprise Lisa took the seat on my right, Rachel and Tobias sat together; Cassie on Rachel's other side. A few minutes later Jake sat beside Cassie and Marco beside him, I almost felt bad for Marco turning into the odd man out but, something emanated from him, u can tell that what he lacked now he was really gonna make up for later; this guy was going places in life no matter what happened to him.

We talked about many things, all around Rachel and I had a discussion on tactics for Krav Maga, I knew several forms of martial arts but the Israeli developed Krav Maga was something I really wanted to learn and dad wouldn't allow it. He said if I learned it I'd just end up killing somebody, after today's events I was starting to think he might be right. Rachel was by no means a master but she was damn good.

"Hey Rach, leave your car here at the mall I'll drive you back to it." I told her accidently interrupting a conversation between her and Tobias. "Good idea" she replied.

Rachel was only 15, but with her mom being an attorney; it wasn't hard for Rachel to obtain a hardship license, allowing her to drive with limitations. About a half hour later we piled into my suburban as darkness fell on our little town, the drive to the abandoned construction site was short one we could have walked really, but the girls didn't want to, correction two of the girls didn't want to Rachel always accepted a challenge.

I parked inside the half finished building and pulled a tarp over the S.U.V. we walked to a smaller building two buildings over; this one had an upstairs that's what we wanted. I took out the crossbow I kept under my spare tire in case of wild dogs or rabid bums, and then made a small fire on the concrete floor of the upper level. It was a chilly night, so I gave Lisa my jacket, and sat down next to her. After a moment she got up, I thought she was going to move away, instead she sat in-between my legs and leaned her back against my chest. The top of her head was right below my chin, I tilted it down so I could smell her beautiful black hair, it smelled like some exotic fruit blend, thank god for Herbal Essences. I wrapped my arms around her, and noticed the other couples doing the same, only Jake had given his jacket to Marco. I expect Cassie would have insisted he have it she was used to the cold she worked nearly every night at the wild life rehabilitation clinic otherwise known as her barn. In fact I kept a horse there, his name was Praetor. (Yeah I know I'm obsessed with Roman Culture, heh maybe it's in my blood.) Praetor has a unique story, he was found half past dead, after being mauled and partially eaten by a mountain lion. Cassie's father spent a lot of the clinic's money, resources, and his time bring the all black but heavily scarred young stud back to life.

When no one claimed him, and her dad could sell him, he tried no one wanted an ugly pony. So, my dad gave the clinic 2500 bucks for him under the condition that he be stabled there and that I get a job to pay for the food. Of course I also had to go there three or four times a week, for care. Which sucked because I really don't like Cassie we are just too different? I hunt all seasons with a compound/crossbow. I hate pacifism and efforts to feel guilty about destroying your enemy; anyway we were just through smoking the blunt I had lit a cigarette and Rachel passed around the last of the airplane bottle of vodka. We were all buzzing pretty good, Lisa and I were kissing so were Jake and Cassie, Rachel and Tobias were sitting like us but just talking. When Tobias hollered out and pointed to what looked like a falling meteorite, we all jumped up and ran outside to see where it would hit…

Quickly, the "meteorite" became a spacecraft; it was not landing on its own. The craft slammed into the earth with a mighty thud, (leaving more than a few parts behind,) bounced then slammed again, skidding to a halt less than 100 meters from us. Without thinking I darted back inside to retrieve the crossbow. What was left of the craft oddly resembled a cockroach with a massive scorpion tail arched up over the front. Overall, the craft was not very large, maybe the size of a double decker bus, or an 18-wheeler gleaming in all black with traces of grey like carbon fiber looked. The vehicle looked terrestrial, to me like something some top secret nerd at Lockheed or Boeing would come up with, what hobbled out of the hatch was definitely not terrestrial. The hatch opened and I could vaguely make out blue green grass covering the floor and bright blue screens lighting the interior. The body of a blue horse appeared, but where the head should have been; there was a humanoid torso complete with two arms, and a head, with ears and four eyes. Two of the eyes were just like yours and mine, (unless you're an Andalite, which I doubt.) the other two were attached to antennae on top of his head. No doubt he could see in all directions, but the tail was the coolest part like a scorpion it was poised up an arched it had a wicked blade, like a scythe. When he hobbled down the ramp I could see he was wounded, I looked around looking for help, though I knew there wasn't any. I did see that Lisa had disappeared and that Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias were rushing to aid the wounded alien.

"Are you guy's crazy? Get back over here." Marco hollered in that amused/angry way of his.

"Marco's right, for once, this blue dude could be…"

(Dangerous?)

A voice inside my head asked, finishing my sentence for me. Not just a voice though, I could sense emotions like a tinge of amusement, shadowed in sorrow. It's very hard to describe to anyone who hasn't experienced it, let's just say that I couldn't read the aliens mind nor he mine; yet he could project thoughts/feelings that I could read. Lastly I sensed guilt; not for deceiving us, more like the kind you get when you know you've taken the wrong road in life, and it turned out far worse than you imagined.

(You are wise to be cautious young one, search my feelings you will find only truth. I care deeply for this world and the people who inhabit it. Once, I lived among you, as a human for many years in fact; that is until the war called me home, the same war which brings me back here now.)

His voice grew slightly panicked as the sounds of other ships drew closer, I assumed they were allies of his, I was wrong.

(Quickly, there is not much time, the ships that approach are not… _friendly_. You must understand your world…Earth, is under attack. As I speak countless numbers of your species are being enslaved in the worst way imaginable.)

Suddenly a tidal wave of images flooded my mind. I saw gray slugs swimming in a sludge pool, saw them crawl into the ear of a strange looking creature, then another and another. I felt the Andalites hatred and shame when he thought of the Yeerk slugs, I understood that the Hork Bajir were slaves like thousands, maybe millions of humans. The realization that the Yeerks operated stealthily similar to the Communist, Fascist, power-mad dictators we have here on earth, was a staggering one.

(I was attempting to reach one of your military installations, since that is no longer an option I'm afraid I must ask you to do the impossible. I must ask you young adults to heed the call and take up arms for your planet, your species, and your families.)

"Cool so you got some kind super ray guns for us or something?"

"Shut up Marco, now isn't the time for your pathetic jokes.) Rachel scalded him, adding a painful looking punch to his arm for good measure.

(The only weapon I can offer you, and I do so breaking the most severe law in my society, is the ability to change your form. You will be able to transform your body into that of any DNA based life-form you physically touch. For example, my time spent on earth was in human morph, I acquired the DNA of several humans, and performing the _FrolisTechnique_ was able to create a unique looking human morph. Of course this was several years ago faking your I.D. was much simpler then. The law of Seerow's Kindess prohibits me from sharing any technology with aliens but as I am dying it is unlikely they will imprison, or execute me. Please step forward, all of you at the same time, and place your hand on one side of the cube.)

Fortunately, I was still furthest away looking for the ships I kept hearing, and therefore the last to touch the cube; because the second I did I was tossed backward thru the air on my ass. My heart was beating out of my chest, I was sure my hair was standing up on end, it felt like ten million volts.

(Do not be frightened, it is merely an allergic reaction. I am unfamiliar with human anatomy but on my planet one out of five hundred thousand Andalite aristh's are barred from military service because of their allergy to the morphing technology.)

If I had gone first it's unlikely the others would have tried. Elfangor was using the time to explain about the morphing technology and its limitations; I droned this out preferring to resume my search of the sky for the hostile ships. After all I would not be morphing so why bother; I felt slightly upset that I wouldn't get to be a full member like the others, still I was happy I could tell my dad and we could form a militia. We could singlehandedly kick these alien slugs off our world, if we are real lucky maybe steal a warship and visit the Yeerk planet. I bet they wouldn't like Uncle Sam's version of invasion/occupation, just ask the boys in Baghdad.

Less than five minutes after getting knocked on my ass, I noticed a large shimmer in the faint night sky. Steadily, the shimmering continued to ripple increasing in speed till it disappeared, leaving behind a giant black medieval battle axe hovering in mid-air. The axe blade ship lowered its landing gear flattening a bulldozer and several concrete culverts. (HIDE NOW NO QUESTIONS HIDE!) Elfangor roared in thought speak.

I'm not sure if it was fear or the authority in his voice, but I did as I was told. I took cover behind a full pallet of powdered concrete. The way all this stuff and equipment was left behind maybe the Yeerks were operating this build and got shutdown, or maybe a rusty old bulldozer and some bags of concrete cost more to move than replace. Realizing my brain was trying to distract me, I quickly forced my thoughts back to my training, I checked to see if my crossbow was loaded; it was, so I peeked around the pallet. The others were safe, (for now), behind a low wall in front of the building we'd been hanging out in. Another ship landed the sound of the battle axe ships' landing ramp hitting the dirt was loud and disturbing; but paled in comparison to the wave of terror that washed over me when the second Andalite I'd ever seen stepped out. Evil radiated from him there was no mistaking this being for anything other than the embodiment of pure malice. This new alien sauntered over to the wounded Elfangor, he walked with an arrogant gait; still, I noticed he kept about twenty meters away from Elfangor when he taunted him.

(SOOOO, THE MIGHTY ELFANGOR FALLS. A PITY U WON'T BE ABLE TO WATCH ME INFEST THE REST OF YOUR PATHETIC FAMILY. NONETHELESS YOU NEEDN'T WORRY I SHALL MAKE GOOD ON MY PROMISE THEY WILL BE INFESTED. AND NOW THE QUESTION REMAINS, SHOULD I SIMPLY GUN U DOWN WITH DRACON FIRE OR SHOULD I MORPH SOMETHING SUITABLE AND CONSUME YOU? HHHMMMM, IT HAS BEEN AWHILE SINCE I ATE…)

(Visser, you will never lay a filthy hand on my family, I as for me I am not dead yet I will fight you until I am. I am a servant of my people.)

How could I just stand by and let this sicko eat Prince Elfangor, I couldn't I leaned out from my cover and let a bolt fly Miss. I reloaded ten seconds later I let another go from another position of cover, this one struck home impaling the evil blue alien in the shoulder. His stalk eyes swiveled in my direction, I caught a glimpse of Jake wielding a large pipe he'd taken advantage of my distraction and pressed the attack. While the Visser was focused in my direction Jake swung that bat like Jerry McGuire

{SMACK!}

He hit that alien so hard it dropped him to his horse like knees.

(No he is too powerful u must hide do not fight him.)

Jake retreated to avoid the wrath of that wicked tail; I stepped out from my cover to fire another bolt at the enemy. Suddenly a strong hand seized my shoulder and forced me back down, I jerked my crossbow toward the new threat in reaction; however another arm caught it before I could get clear tearing it from grasp and tossing it on the ground.

"That alien is right you better hide if all you brought to this fight is a crossbow did I teach you anything?" "Dad? Oh man how did you find me I'm really glad to see you I love you dad."

"I love you too son, now listen up I've known about these aliens for some time. I wish I could have told you but it's classified…" "Did you track one of the ships here?" "No son I tracked you, I put a GPS chip in your shoes, and yell at me about it some other time, right now we need to focus. Take this Glock, make your way moving cover to cover like I taught you, over to your friend with the pipe y'all drag the wounded alien to my truck on the north-side, just on the other side of that building to your one o' clock. Take it and get out of here go straight to our cabin…"

(Enough prattle today you Die Visser.)

It all happened so fast, Elfangor attacked, my father stepped out and began firing taking out the Visser's guards. As ordered I dodged cover to cover firing blindly at the morphing Visser as I went till I reached Jake, who was crouched down behind the wall pipe ready to go. He nearly hit me when I hopped over "hey watch it it's me Julius, geez they haven't made me a slug and they never will I'll cut my own throat before that happens."

"What do we man?" Jake asked truly unsure, it looked to me like it scared him to be unsure about anything.

" my dad is creating a diversion and killing as many as he can, we need to grab the blue guy, (the good one) and drag pull hold whatever it takes to get him to my dad's truck on the other side of this building. Hey wait… Jake, where are the others?"

"I told the others to get back to Rachel's car and go. Marco was supposed to go as well but he rarely listens."

"Ok good you, Marco, and I should be able to handle this guy."

"uhhh do I look like Arnold to you, hello I'm 5,7 I barely reach the guy's armpit, if getting incinerated by some slug's phaser is the way this is…."

"Marco you're my best friend but you need to shut up and suck it up we are doing this, let's go." Jake was a natural at assuming command of the situation, he just seemed to know exactly what to do and was prepared to do it no matter what it cost him personally.

We leaped over the wall true to his training and wealth of experience, my father had the aliens distracted well, they didn't seem to notice three human teenagers dragging and heaving a hobbling Andalite Prince. The Visser had morphed some terrible monster that would give the most ardent horror writer nightmares; he was chasing my dad chewing through buildings as he went. Dad was firing his M-4 rapidly behind him bullets pelting the monster with no effect. I turned to empty the rest of my magazine but was slapped down by Marco, at that point I almost shot him. "No your dad is the distraction, it sucks I know, but it was his call. He would want us to follow his orders." That got me I hated it but Marco was right, I returned the pistol to my waistband and dragged the wounded Andalite a little faster. We made it to the truck, Elfangor found the strength to hop in the bed, and then he passed out. We covered him with a tarp, and hopped in the cab leaving as quickly as physics would allow.

Several miles down the road my phone beep its notification that I'd received a text, since I was driving at high speeds I ignored it. Seconds later I heard the faint sound of thunder, and saw in the rear view mirror, a brilliant flash of light. I found it strange hearing thunder and seeing lightning strike, as there were no clouds in the sky; quickly the sound of the engine drowned it out so I pressed on to the cabin.

"You sure you guys don't want to go home? I'm not driving back tonight." It came out a little rude, not my intention.

"NOOOO HOOO HOO HO HO! Thanks man, but Jake and I told the rental units we were staying at the others house, I'd rather not get grounded on top of finding out that we are earth's last hope."

"Yeah what Marco said we'll stay with you if that's cool?" Jake asked rather than expected which I thought was very respectful of him.

"Of course you guys are always welcome, and thee girls and Tobias, can drive out tomorrow so we can figure all this out." I replied with an effort to keep my voice from cracking.

"Speaking of girls, Rachel text me and told me to tell you Lisa got home safe, she thinks we saw an experimental aircraft, Rachel didn't correct her." Jake informed me.

We reached the cabin an hour or so later, after helping Elfangor out of the truck we watched him muster the last of his strength and morph a human. Two short minutes later he was an Andalite again his wound healed.

(I must go and graze to replenish my strength I will see you in the morning.) Without another word or gesture, he trotted off into the dense national forest.

My fellow humans and I were too tired to eat. Jake and Marco crashed on the bunk beds, I took the front porch hammock. Sleep came eventually but not until after nightmare and nightmare forced its way through my mind. It must've been nearly dawn when I finally did nod off, Dad still hadn't made it home, and I still hadn't looked at my phone.


	2. Chapter 2

Animorphs: The Reanimation

Chapter II

The Day After

**RACHEL**

Despite being Saturday, my alarm went off at 7:30 a.m. today was no ordinary Saturday. Today I would be driving half my friends to a cabin in the woods to meet the other half of my friends and an actual alien, to discuss what we plan to do about another race of aliens enslaving humanity. Yeah I know sounds crazy like Rob Zombie meets Spielberg crazy, but it's the truth. I just found out about it last night, when the alien crashed his fighter in the abandoned construction site my friends and I were hanging out partying in. The others, except Julius, were probably very apprehensive about our futures, me I couldn't wait to start kicking alien ass. I took a long hot relaxing shower, I love hot showers they are the only thing that can remotely relax me. I'm a pretty "_Gung ho"_ high strung person, and I have a temper to rival Emperor Nero's. I'm very pretty I don't say that in a look at me sort of way, on the contrary, I don't like people staring, and I will mutilate anyone who touches me without permission. If you saw me shopping in the mall, (which is my favorite hobby), then you'd assume I'm some blonde air head bimbo or a snotty rich girl slut, actually I make straight A's take advanced courses love gymnastics and martial arts. Oh, and I'm not rich, but I'm not exactly impoverished either, I guess the politically correct term these days would be dwindling upper middle class. My mom is an attorney and my father is a reporter/news anchor for a local affiliate.

When I got out of the shower I went down stairs to make some breakfast, taking notice of how empty the house felt. On the refrigerator, was a note scribbled in my mom's hand writing.

_Rachel my firm just landed a huge client, I had to fly to D.C. immediately. I would have told you this if you had come on time last night, your sisters are staying with your father I knew you would want to stay alone. Lucky for you I think your mature enough, so don't mess up this opportunity to prove yourself honey. P.S. I left you $200 in the freezer I'll be gone for a week, call me every night and call or (take the car if it's not too late out), to your father's apartment if you get lonely or scared._

_ Love, _

_ Mom_

Cool I thought, now I wouldn't have to worry about getting caught coming home late tonight. My thoughts drifted to pondering which high profile client my mom was getting as I fried some bacon on the hibachi grill my dad had installed; before the divorce.

Ring, Ring brrrrrnnngggg.

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my I-phone caller ID didn't recognize the number, but I answered anyway thinking it might be my mom calling from an airplane phone.

"Hello" "Hi uh Rachel, its, its Tobias."

I could hear yelling and the sound of glass and other things breaking in the background

"Would it be alright if I came over early, you don't have to let me in if your mom is awake or whatever I understand? I'm happy with a garage or basement attic hell even a dog house would be better than…" he trailed off, I got the idea he was dodging fists and could hear something thrown at him and breaking against the wall. It made me very angry. I took a few deep breaths and when I could hear him breathing into the receiver again I said.

"Tobias pack a bag you're going to stay for at least a week, my mom is out of town and my sisters are at my dad's, the place is mine. I'll come get you if you want."

"No that's ok I'll be there in half an hour." "Cool see you then." "Ok later Rach, and thanks." "Don't mention it just hurry up before I end up in jail for killing your uncle."

Tobias had the toughest life I knew anyone in real life could have, his mom was dead, and no one knew what became of his father. His guardians were two siblings of his mother who couldn't care less about him. One of them treated him like a servant; the other did too but added random beatings into the mix. At first I pitied him, then I began to admire him, he never faltered only grew stronger more resilient. Tobias was so easy going and thoughtful… i found my thinking about him more and more lately. When time ran down to ten minutes I began cooking bacon and eggs for Tobias as well, he'd say he wasn't hungry but I'd make him eat. I smiled mischievously saying those last few words over to myself, and quickly pushed any thoughts like that to the back of my mind. We would not be going there, not yet anyway, I didn't have to worry Tobias would never push himself, or the issue. It just wasn't in his nature. A short while later the doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of Tobias, I let him in and lead him to the kitchen breakfast nook. Two plates sat waiting with two glasses of orange juice and two pieces of toast; he hesitated only for a moment before sitting beside me and eating breakfast.

"Thanks Rachel this was really nice, you didn't have to go to all this trouble for me though."

"Ha don't be silly, I was already making breakfast I just threw in some extra that's all, don't flatter your-self Tobias."

Then just to be sure I didn't completely deter his advances I gave him a gentle shove, looked deep into his eyes and smiled a come and get me smile. I think he got the hint, at least he returned the smile with one of his own.

After breakfast Tobias and I sat down to watch some T.V., but there was very little on aside from cartoons this early on a Saturday. So, instead we amused ourselves by telling each other all about each other. Eventually I moved the conversation to the car; first we picked up Cassie, (which ended the intimate conversation), then we filled up on gas, finally we hit the road following the navigation to the coordinates Julius provided. I had planned on listening to the news on the radio, but forgot to turn it on during my conversation with Tobias. Now that we were through talking for the time being, I moved to hit the power button too late, Cassie plugged in her IPod. Great now it will be U2 for the entire trip, somehow that IPod is getting "_accidently"_ lost in the woods, I thought maliciously.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

**JULIUS**

Birds chirping their conversations to each other aroused me from my slumber, looking around I noticed it was still dark just before dawn. My father still hadn't made it home. I remembered the txt message and tried to check my phone, the battery was dead so I plugged it into the charger in the truck and took my crossbow out hunting for breakfast. I passed Elfangor along the way; he looked like he was sleeping so I didn't bother him.

The forest was waking up as I crept silently through it, as my father had trained me to do; I used the ambient noise to suppress my own. It took longer to get where I was going, stopping to wait on the wind before moving again or letting the bird chatter mask my breaking of a twig or crunching of leaves. In the end it was worth it, most of the time. This morning, I was headed to a familiar meadow about half an hour away on foot. I snaked my way along till I reached the outskirts of the meadow. A small stream ran along the opposite edge of it, it was usually a great place to find small game, rabbits in particular. Fortune was mine on this day, when I stepped into the meadow instead of a rabbit I found a small female yearling doe. Normally I would not take one out of season, much less one that is illegal in season; However, I had mouths to feed including my own. I felt certain that the others except Cassie would appreciate fresh venison.

I stepped out of the tree line the doe froze I put the crossbow to my shoulder and fired. The wind blew my arrow off course; it hit the doe just to the right of the heart. The doe jumped about five feet in the air, and took off racing through the meadow to the nearest tree line. I loaded another bolt and aimed, she was thirty meters from the trees, and I inhaled deeply adjusted so that I was aiming slightly in front of her front shoulder. Ten meters from the trees I slowly let out half my breath, and loosed my arrow. This time it hit its mark, the doe bucked one last time causing her to crash into the brush. She gave a mighty sigh and I saw the life flicker from her eyes. Just in case Cassie or the others were weak of stomach, I decided to skin the doe where she dropped and hurry back to camp as fast as I could. Not carry about the noise I made now I could cut my time in half.

**Elfangor**

I observed the two human youths called Jake and Marco; they came out of the cabin arguing with one another. I had been human before, long enough to know that this was typical behavior. It seemed the argument was about breakfast, Marco felt it was inhospitable not to have any food except MRE's, Jake felt it was rude to assume other were responsible for feeding you. I waited till the discussion died down and interjected…

(Good morning Jake Marco, please inform me when Tobias arrives I require a private conversation with him.)

"Oh, as a matter of fact Rachel just text me a few minutes ago, Tobias is staying with Rachel for the week so he's already with her, and Cassie is with them they are about an hour away."

(Thank you Jake.)

"Hey Mr...Uhh, Prince Elfangor have you seen Julius, I need to have a public conversation with him about breakfast." Marco jeered

(Yes, I saw him leave with his primitive weapon and artificial skins that mimic these woods. If I remember correctly this activity is known as hunting. Though I did not realize it had become a necessity again, are the stores no longer in service?)

"Nah, the stores are fine Julius is not your typical human to say the least, he's idealistic like Cassie but not in the same way. Julius was raised by a warrior to be a warrior, he personally believes that grocery stores are sacrilege, that you should hunt kill and skin your own meals otherwise starve." Jake explained

"Yeah well let's just hope he gets back before Cassie gets here, and with something for breakfast."

Marco added his personality was hard to read, I decided I liked him less than the others. Jake I understood we were very similar despite our age and species differences, Julius I liked because he was a warrior and would do whatever it took to survive or win. But it was that whatever it took that also frightened me about Julius there was something in his eyes, coldness, eyes that told no story. Even though his eyes were bright and blue, they lacked the usual shine, or soul as humans called it behind them. That is not to say I believe Julius to without a soul, just that he might find the hard things to come the combat the killing just a little easier than the others in fact I feared he would downright come to enjoy it. Rachel was similar in this regard but she would only kill when absolutely necessary, Julius would kill for the sake of killing if not restrained. I don't mean to portray him as some serial killer, what uhmmm…. Ah Snipers, they require a certain skillset beyond the training they receive, I watched a documentary once, anyway it said that they must be able to look through a scope and watch their target die knowing they killed them and still be able to carry on as normal. That's what Julius would have been if he had been allowed entry into the human military, it's what would have barred him from entry if he were an Andalite; it's now what I would help him to become.

CRASH CARUNCH!

My tail jerked instinctively toward the sound of the threat, Julius stood crossbow pointed at me, he realized who I was and relaxed his weapon. I did the same and lowered my tail to the ground, to another Andalite this would be a sign of submission. I wanted Julius to see it was only a reaction as he had done, that I was not threating him in any way. So I humbled my-self, it's not like there were other Andalites around to see me.

He seemed to take it the way it was intended and stepped out of the bushes, slung over his shoulders was a small skinless deer. I had seen them eaten before but I couldn't help feeling that I might seem like a tasty meal to some humans.

"Whoo hoo breakfast!" Marco exclaimed clearly jubilant. It seemed he was more affected by his empty stomach than the events that had transpired the previous night, or perhaps he was putting on a front. Either way, I really didn't like Marco very much. His constant attention seeking attempts at humor, and his incessant whining ground my hooves. I would tolerate him for the sake of the other's should he decide to fight, but we will never be close like I might be with Jake or Julius. As an Andalite, humor is already lost on me but Marco was simply annoying to the point of laughter, rather than actually being funny. Julius ignored Marco's exuberance and busied himself breaking twigs and shaving bark from small sticks.

I observed with mild amazement as Julius created a fire in a previously used pit. The fire itself was nothing of note however, the way he created it was. Using a small metallic rod he struck against his knife, he showered two thousand degree sparks all over a bundle of dried grass igniting it instantly. With the grass bundle smoldering he placed it into the pyramid of small twigs and bark shavings igniting them in turn. Once the fire had been fed a sufficient amount of kindling Julius began adding larger pieces of limbs, establishing a base of coals in the bottom. With that done he moved a tripod of severed saplings over the pit, hanging from the center of the tripod was a bicycle wheel attached by a chain. I knew bicycles very well; it's the first human transportation I owned when I was a human. It was very clever of Julius to use it for a grille, a grille he promptly filled with butchered venison. At this point I took my leave, the smell and the sight of the gore was just too much for this grass-eater. I made myself useful by trotting down to the end of the drive to await the others. Of course I'd stay hidden within the tree-line, I wasn't a fool; despite this remote location, the drive ended in front of a farm road with plenty of freight traffic. The journey wasn't a long one, but with the sun and the humidity I was sweating and breathing heavy by the time I reached the road. Gravity and temperature were slightly more intense on earth than the Andalite world; it would take some time to acclimate. I leaned against a large tall tree with long green and red needles for leaves; (I believe Loren called them pine trees), and closed my main eyes. I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but I must've I awoke to see Rachel's car pass up the turn onto the drive. She realized her mistake fairly quickly, soon I stepped out far enough ahead that Rachel could slow down in time and waved them to a stop.

(Hello Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, I hope the trip was a pleasant one. I was wondering if you would care to walk back with me Tobias, I have some things I need to discuss with you in private. I will then address all of you at once this is a lot to absorb so I beg your patience.)

"Sure Prince Elfangor, I'll walk with you." Tobias answered without hesitation, the others nodded their agreement. Tobias got out. Rachel and Cassie drove on down the drive to the cabin. Unable able to stifle my ever thoughtful, curious mind, I noted that had it rained recently her car would not make it on the dirt path. I wondered if Julius's truck would make it, then assumed that was why it had oversized tires and a winch system.

I let the others get around the bend and out of sight before I began, (Tobias, what I am about to tell you will probably be harder to accept than the Yeerk invasion, it will be much easier on the both of us if you allow me to transmit memories to your mind. In order to facilitate this, I must place my hands on your head. Please, do not be alarmed.)

"Uh ok go ahead I trust you, I'm not really sure why, but I trust you. It's been bothering me ever since you landed, I just… I, have this strange feeling like we've met before, like I know you. But that can't be…can it?"

"(Please, allow me to begin and all will be revealed, all will make sense again.)

I placed my hands on either side of his head, and muttered the words that would focus my mind. This was so that I could establish a telepathic link with Tobias's mind. Once the link was established the _hirac delore_, the transmission of selected memories from being to being, could begin. I allowed him to enter my mind, showed him the dome ship nearing earth, showed him the _Skrit Na_ vessel leaving it. Our sensors detected the fabled Time Matrix aboard the galactic junk collector's vessel, as well as two human life signs. The captain ordered Abbron and I to a shuttle craft and we boarded the alien ship. I played my memories forward meeting Loren getting to know her as we raced after the Skrit Na_, _chasing the Time Matrix still aboard their ship. Briefly let him see the atrocities that took place on that hellish Taxxon world. Finally I showed him what was most important, how Loren and I had used the Time Matrix to hide on earth, how I had morphed human permanently, how we had gotten married and had a son. A son named Tobias, complications during labor took Loren's life but Tobias survived, I stayed with my son till he was four years old. Then the Ellimist came, a nearly all powerful being who meddles with other species for his own amusement, he came and told me I had caused a major imbalance in the timeline and must return to help raise my brother to help fight so that yesterday may seems you and your friends play a vital role in the outcome of this war the Ellimist wouldn't let me see that outcome, yet I understood the significance you all would have. The Ellimist used his powers to restore me to my original time-line, but kept the one I had created with Loren, kept the child.

(You're my son Tobias, I'm… I'm your father, I understand if you're angry or want time to think I'll be here if you need me.) I'm not sure what I expected angry outbursts or silence, he managed to surprise me.

"Wow… I don't know what to say to that, I mean I can tell that you're being sincere. I could sense your emotions, while we were linked, and I want to believe it then things would make a little more sense. But, right now I just can't maybe I just need some time." He looked me right in my main eyes when he said this then marched on.

We walked in silence the rest of the way back to the cabin, I wanted desperately to tell him more to tell him I loved him, I did not. To do so would only serve to damage any relationship I hoped to build with Tobias. I had to consider the fact that if I was still overwhelmed at the recent events, then the humans who were mere children had to be far more so than I. still I admired them six human juvenile's brave enough to charge the terrifying Visser 3 on my behalf, wise enough to retreat when prudent, the Ellimist was right the galaxy did not stand a chance without the humans in the fight. I knew from my time with Loren that humans were unpredictable, sometimes vile and malevolent, but also capable of great understanding and love. Truly one of the most adaptable species Andalites have ever encountered, humans built the first computer in the 1950's it was the size of a large house and had the processing power of a modern calculator. Sixty years later a device as small as the human hand has 100 times the power of the first computer. In 1903 humans made their first atmospheric flight, a pair of siblings created the first "airplane" again a mere sixty years later human are walking on their own moon. These same feats took Andalites, arguably the most advanced race in the galaxy, four and five times as long to achieve; indeed if allowed to continue at present pace the humans will surpass the Andalite in just a couple of centuries. I was torn from my thoughts of admiration when I noticed that the others were huddled around Rachel's car. Tobias hurried over to join them; I stopped once I got within auditory range. A voice carried from the car's radio…

***BREAKING NEWS***

This is Fox news Breaking News as it happens; I'm Scott Tibido in the KCCRTKCH News Radio 940 weather and traffic station. In our top stories around 10:30 pm last night a large explosion rocked the sleepy Glendale community, the long since abandoned, but recently purchased construction project on the corner of Mac Arthur and Sunset, was the target of an apparent Domestic Terror Attack. Active duty Marine, NRA member, and Right Wing Extremist, Gunnery Sergeant Craig Roberts, with his 17 yr. old son drove a pickup truck loaded with stolen military and homemade explosives into the construction site where workers were unloading equipment and materials and detonated the device. Officials confirm that 13 people, including Roberts and his son were killed. Another 30 were injured when the blast went off. A Spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security says… "_Roberts was a radical, he discovered that the company who recently purchased the site, Visser Technologies, is a subsidiary for Chinese owned Sulp Niar Industries Incorporated. Sulp Niar Industries are the leading innovators in computer technologies, Roberts and fellow Right Wing Nut-jobs believe the company is involved in some global conspiracy to kill and enslave humanity; clearly this delusion is what led him to take his life and the lives of so many others. Americans need more security, they demand it, that is why in light of these recent mass shootings and terror attacks, DHS will be hiring 50,000 new agents to patrol the streets, intercede our borders and protect the citizenry. We will be working closely in conjunction with the FBI and NSA to better track theses dissident radicals through social media, wireless and mobile technology. Military personnel will undergo intense psychological screenings after combat and before returning home. Rapid Response Teams are being deployed to every town, and every school will have no less than five on duty Police Officers. All medical, emergency, law enforcement, fire and education staff must complete three FEMA safety drills for active shooters, explosive devices, and chemical agents. All law enforcement will begin training will special forces operators to identify and apprehend suspected terrorists before they can carry out their heinous acts, we expect the full measure of our directives to be ratified by no later than next week, and total implementation over the course of the next year. Use of Drones for domestic spying is being authorized by congress as I speak to you, full nude body scanners will be going up in every bus, train, and subway station. Surveillance cameras linked to a network running facial recognition software, and high frequency microphones for sound and speech recognition will be positioned around D.C. first, then seceding metropolitan areas. We'll start with government buildings, courthouses DPS etc. then work outward to schools banks and so forth till they are on the street corners. Police are authorized to stop and search anyone without probable cause, arrest and length of detainment will be determined by an independent tribunal. We are taking great strides in the senate to implement a nationwide gun-ban, and are working diligently to alter or remove Habeas Corpus and Miranda rights. We need more troops on the ground here at home in order to effectively combat this growing domestic threat. If only those on the other side of the aisle would be willing to work with us, tragedies like this can be left to the annals of history."_

Fox News spoke to Corporal Terry, a friend and longtime fellow service member who had this to say about Roberts… "Craig was a good friend, and a damn fine soldier, but he was being treated for PTSD. It is quite possible he simply snapped, he was always ranting about conspiracies and cover-ups. Know this, Craig was a patriot whatever he did, he did thinking it was in the best interest of the people and the constitution of this country. He…" I'm Scott Tibido with the latest news and now over to Katsumi Asuga with our traffic and weather. "Thanks Scott we have a lovely forecast for toda…

Cassie leaned in and turned off the radio, all eyes went to Julius. The color was drained from his face and his bright blue eyes had lost their shine, he looked like he'd been sucker punched in the guts. Still he said nothing; he turned and walked into the cabin. Cassie started to go after him but was quickly stopped by Rachel's hand on her arm. "Let him go. He needs to be alone." The way she said it was soft but emotionless, like a robot whispering to you. "but…" Rachel shook her head she understood that Julius was a warrior, and didn't want or need Cassie comforting him. A few moments later Julius came back out carrying a bottle of amber liquid, he walked back over to the group, removed the cap from the bottle, and poured a generous amount on the ground. "For Gunny" Julius held the bottle up to the sky, a small thin smile appeared on his face, "He went out Fighting, swinging till the very end. We should all be so lucky." He wiped a tear from his eyes with the back of his hand before taking a few deep swigs of the whiskey I recognized it to be. Rachel took the bottle when he passed it, "Amen" she whispered and took her swig. The others were more reluctant to drink the fiery liquid but each of them did in accordance with custom, in honor of Julius's father. With no mouth I could not share in the ritual instead I arched my tail over my head and proudly exclaimed, (We will never forget, I pledge my life and my honor to the destruction of Visser 3. Craig's name will be added to the list of fallen warriors it is the custom of Andalites to recite every morning.) Julius nodded his appreciation to me, but stayed silent.

It was Cassie who spoke next, "it isn't fair, your dad was a hero he died saving us all of us including Elfangor and they paint him out to be some kind of terrorist. That just isn't right."

"Uh, excuse me but no one seems to have noticed how much power they just acquired in one fowl swoop. That was DHS which means the Yeerks have friends in seriously high places, which means even talking about them is seriously dangerous. Guy's we need to turn our phones off and remove the battery, I'm dead serious." Marco stated boldly and intelligently, a welcome change from his usual whining.

(That is the way the Yeerks operate, never let a tragedy go to waste. They will use this event to further their agenda where possible. Portraying Craig as they have done serves to meet their human political goals, and curries supporters away from their political opposition. Unlike humans and Andalites, Yeerks have no moral compass they are guided by efficiency and their own greedy desires for power and control. They do not slay without reason, but it doesn't take much of a reason for them to slay billions. The Valanxians were a sentient nearly space capable reptilian race. The Yeerks sought to infest them for hosts because their skin secreted a neurological agent, and they could breathe in various atmospheric gasses. However it turned out that the cold blooded Valanxians were poorly suited to space travel, their bodies continued to freeze. With the losses mounting in space the ground invasion was suffering as well, and a few Valanxians had begun resisting the Yeerks; so the Yeerks cut their losses, they didn't even recall their own people from the planet before they fired continued dracon bursts into the Valanxians nitrogen-methane atmosphere, In minutes the atmosphere ignited instantly incinerating all life on the planet. That is the length the Yeerks are willing to go, that is why I will fight them till I draw my last breath.)

(When I gave you the power contained in the _Escafil_ device, I did so because I thought I would die in a matter of minutes and you're the only humans I could reach. I broke the laws of my people so that you could have the fighting chance you deserve, but since I did not die I want to give you the option. You do not have to fight, after all you are just teenagers, but if you choose to fight you will be welcome. If you choose not to, you will not be thought any less of; there is no need to decide right now. Please take some time and make the best decision for yourselves and your families.)

"I don't need any time to decide, I'm going to fight." Julius stated passion rising in his voice. "Me too." Rachel chimed in.

(Decide nothing today, go home think about it, if you decide to fight we will meet at Cassie's Rehabilitation clinic Wednesday.)

"Actually if we meet Friday, that would be better because my parents won't be home, it's their anniversary so they should be out all night."

(Very well Friday then we will meet and discuss the next course of action, now then I am afraid that I must go and graze and we all need time to reflect, Rachel if you will see them safely home, I will see you Friday.) They all murmured and nodded their agreement, Julius went into the cabin, and the others piled into Rachel's car. (Goodbye Tobias, be safe…all of you be safe and remember don't say a word of this to anyone.)

"See you Friday" Tobias replied. I watched them till they disappeared from view then set about my grazing and scoop building needs. A scoop in case you don't know is a house dug out of the ground a sort of bowl with half a roof , it's what we Andalites sleep in.

**TOBIAS**

I tried painstakingly to think of something other than Elfangor as my father, the fact that I now had a father, but the two hour trip back to Rachel's made that impossible. I felt so confused, a myriad of emotions were coursing through me; anger at him for not being there all this time, for having to live with shitty relatives who never gave a shit about me. Elation, at having a father who cared about me and would care for me; despair at realizing my mother truly _was _dead, and my father a four legged alien. Hatred and rage at having this thrust upon me at the slugs invading my world. Pity and more rage for the people who died who were dying and who would die at the hands of filthy parasites. I didn't speak the entire trip, just sat in silence in the back seat. We dropped Cassie off first, then Marco, then Jake; finally, we pulled into Rachel's driveway just as the sun was setting. I followed her inside; she hung her keys from a hook by the door, and set her purse down on the kitchen table. She must've sensed something was up because before I could finish locking the door, she rounded on me… "What's wrong Tobias? I know something is up, you haven't said four words since you spoke with Elfangor. What did he say to you? Did he threaten you? I'll kill that big blue son of a…."

"Rach calm down, he didn't threaten me. He just told me something… something unexpected and I'm not sure how to accept it." I told her taking her hand in mine.

"You can talk to me about it… if you want that is. Just know that I'm your…your friend Tobias and friends are there for each other." She held my hand tighter and looked deep into my eyes, hers were like a vast ocean when she looks at me I drown.

"That's really nice of you Rachel, but I don't want to burden you with my silly problems especially when we are in the middle of an alien invasion right?"

"It's not silly Tobias, it's important to you, but if you don't wanna tell me I totally understand. Tell you what, nature makes me filthy so I'm going to go take a shower, feel free to make yourself at home eat whatever is in the kitchen, watch T.V. etc. When I get out we can watch a movie, and if you can't find anything to eat we'll order pizza."

Rachel smiled that knock-em-dead smile of hers I felt my heart skip a beat, I mustered up every ounce of courage and said…

"I'll tell you what, you go take your shower take your time too, because while you're up there I'm going to cook you a gourmet meal. It's the least I can do for letting me stay here, and if you play your cards right I just might tell you over dinner." I smiled at her hoping it was convincing enough. She smiled back and walked up the stairs her golden sun-hair flowing like a veil behind her as she went.

Once I was sure she was gone I hit the kitchen hard searching for anything I could make a decent meal out of. In the fridge I found some boneless chicken breast a day past its expiration date, it should be fine as long as I cook it thoroughly. In the pantry I found the rest of my ingredients pasta, Alfredo sauce and red potatoes. I placed my ingredients on the counter and began searching for cookware and spices/herbs.

At 350 degrees, the chicken would take approximately two hours so I started it right away, placing it in a casserole dish and baking it with some bell peppers and some orange slices I'd found. The potatoes took an hour to become the level of softness I wanted, when they reached that level I placed them on the back burner and got out the sauce pan. Next to the sauce pan on the front right burner I had the pasta on a slow boil I wanted it to still be hot when I added the chicken and sauce. In the sauce pan I heaped several large spoons of butter and a few pinches of garlic/cilantro. Next i added salt, black pepper, just a dash of Chile powder, and a sprinkle of onion powder. I would have added real onions to both the butter sauce and the chicken but Rachel didn't have any. While that stuff was melting I set the table after a fancy restaurant id seen on a re-run TV show lately. I found candles some flowers for a center piece and a bottle of wine, I'm no connoisseur so I couldn't tell you if the wine was any good or not but I hoped it would complement the meal since it was a light white wine. I really had no clue if that was correct but I didn't think my light sauces and light pasta would be good with a dark wine, and in any case all there was were several bottles of this white zinfandel stuff. I took one that was already open and de-corked it, placing it on the table between the two glasses. What seemed like only a few seconds later, (busy as I was), the chicken was finished, so I cut it into strips and threw it into the now strained pasta pouring the Alfredo sauce over all that. With the potatoes in a bowl, I poured the butter sauce over them, and made two identical plates. Just as I finished pouring the wine she came walking down the stairs, my jaw dropped, my tongue rolled across the floor. Wow! She looked amazing, she had on these sky blue sweat pants with a white, (wife-beater) tank top and her luscious blonde hair pulled up into a tight pony tail. No makeup. None needed. My heart skipped a beat and filled with warm joy as she smiled appreciatively at my labor.

"Tobias how... where… how did you do all this… this is wonderful." She exclaimed her hands on her cheeks in surprise.

"Well, neither of my relatives cared much whether I ate or not so I learned to make my own meals, then the only time I could watch any TV was before they woke up or after they went to sleep, which meant all I could watch on basic TV was cooking shows at those times." I hoped I sounded as "_matter of factly,"_ as I did in my head the last thing I wanted was for Rachel to pity me. "Please Rachel, have a seat." I whispered pulling her chair out for her.

"Thank you Sir." She said with a (bigger than Dallas) grin on her face.

We ate in silence except the occasional outburst of pleasure from Rachel, when her plate was clean she sipped her wine and asked "So, are you gonna tell me what Elfangor said to you or is it none of my business?"

I thought for a moment chewing the last of my food and sipping my own wine "ok, but it's pretty crazy stuff Rach, promise me u wont kick me out at 10 o'clock when it's below sixty if I tell you ok." I said trying to sound amusing

"Tobias you _know_ better than that, besides it couldn't be a whole lot crazier than meeting an alien race trying to help save you from being enslaved by another alien race can it?"

So over a couple glasses of wine I spilled my guts to her, I really can't say why I' normally such a private person but it's just so easy to talk to Rachel I feel like I've always known her and that she can see right through me. So I told her everything Elfangor told me, I expected her to ask me what I had decided to do, but Rachel was smarter than that instead she gave me her opinion and suggested we watch some TV. Regular TV held little to nothing of value so we ended up watching some romantic comedy from the 90's I'm not sure when it happened exactly but when i opened my eyes the next time Rachel was curled up on the couch next to me her head in my lap and the sun was just breaking over the horizon.

As gently as I could, I slid out from under her swapping my thighs for a pillow. I hit bathroom relieved myself, washed my hands and brushed my teeth with my finger. I hopped in the shower just long enough to soap and rinse, (not long enough for the hot water to reach upstairs), then changed into one of the five outfits I had brought with me. The dirty clothes I stored in a plastic grocery bag back inside my backpack. After I washed my hands a second time I headed downstairs to make a quiet breakfast. Rachel was still sleeping as I hurriedly fried bacon and scrambled eggs. I chopped it all up added a little shredded cheese, salt/pepper, and picante sauce, and served with tortillas. When the plates were set I went to the couch and softly whispered in her ear to wake up. Her eyes opened and she inhaled deeply through her nostrils rising to a sitting position as she did. "Bacon?" she asked

"Yes, and eggs too." I replied humbly wearing a face shattering smile.

"You are too good to me Tobias, we are going to have to move you into the basement when mom gets back, seriously just cook like this for her a couple times and she'll be sold." Rachel joked, but we both knew her mother would never allow me to stay. "So, got any plans for the day? Besides making mouthwatering meals that is." She teased twirling her fork in her hands as she spoke.

"Hey you're the hostess I'm just along for the ride. I pretty much have to follow you around. That's not so bad…I mean the view couldn't be better…" she threw a biscuit at me striking me square in the left eye we both laughed so hard we nearly toppled out of our chairs.

"Well in that case Fido, I'm going to go get dressed we got to hit the grocery store so you can keep feeding me like this…" she whipped her hair spinning on the spot and disappeared upstairs.

A few moments later I could hear water rushing through the pipes, knew she must be in the shower, suppressing a few R rated ideas that came with this knowledge. When she was finally ready she looked dressed to kill, I mean she could have just stepped off a Gulfstream from Tokyo night clubbing. We were only going to the grocery store, but that's Rachel she can walk through a tornado ad never need a hair brush. Man I like her a lot, liking her more each day that passes, still haven't said anything though. We hit the grocery store gathering much needed supplies on Rachel's credit card, I took notice she made a point of getting $40.00 bucks back in cash. After the grocery store we drove to a beer wine and fine foods store, a small mom and pop place, not the major chain with the drunken rabbit logo. Rachel's friend ran the store for her terminally ill father, she also knew which wines went with what meals and jotted down a quick reference guide for me. We left with two bottles of something I can't pronounce, we left behind the $40.00 bucks.

My time with Rachel flew by, it was Wednesday night before I realized I would be leaving in the Friday morning and I wouldn't be coming back. I still hadn't made a decision about Elfangor so I either had to return to my uncle's or I had to turn to the streets. That's not true I had made a decision a life with an alien father in a shack in the woods is better than getting the shit beat out of me for simply being there to take it. That night I called and asked Julius to tell my "father" that I would be coming home with him Friday night, he was happy to oblige. It never occurred to me that Julius might be lonely up there with only an alien for company. Poor Julius, here I was crying about my daddy issues and living like Dylan McKay, of 90210 at Rachel's house, whiles my friend was suffering the loss of his father alone. Some friend I was, when my friend Julius, a guy who had saved me from bullies as Jake had done, a guy who invited me to stay with him on the weekends, or go camping with him and his dad. A guy who would sleep in abandoned apartment buildings with me just so I wouldn't have to go home. A guy that when he needed me the most I abandoned for some attention from a girl.

I felt sick I wanted Julius to punch me; I wanted to punch myself, so I explained to Rachel what I was doing and went to the cabin Thursday evening. Rachel drove me out and gave me a kiss on the cheek before she left "See you tomorrow Tobias." She said with a wink that could charm the stars. "I'll be there Rach."

"Hey Tobias can I ask you something? How are we supposed to save the world I mean the whole fucking world come on it's too much?" Rachel never dropped her guard like this, I better be very careful what I say.

"It's impossible to save the whole world you'll burn yourself out trying. We can only try to save the ones we love." I told her.

"Then what are we trying to save?" she asked a single tear forming in her eye.

"I'm only trying to save three, you, Julius and Elfangor, just three Rachel.

A/N:::::: I hope you enjoyed more to come soon, PLEASE REVIEW!

THANKS FOR READING TJ MARC19


End file.
